Choosing to ignore the Healer, considering the man a lost cause and irrelevant anyway, Dumbledore turned his attention to Bones again. "Amelia, my dear. I assure you, unless killed by young Neville, Voldemort will return."
"Why would you think that, Albus?" she smirked.
Clearly at least a tiny bit irritated, he said, "I prefer... 'Headmaster Dumbledore', Amelia."
"I don't care," she said. "Here, you are actually PrisonerDumbledore unless I state otherwise. And, if you're going to call me 'Amelia', I'm going to decide to call you 'Albus' if I want to... Albus. Or would you prefer I address you as Prisoner Dumbledore?"
As he frowned, he decided to ignore her disrespect and said, "Voldemort has created―"
His intent by using the name was to make people both gasp in shock and see how he was 'brave' enough to use the name with perceived impunity.
Suddenly cutting him off, she snapped, "You mean Tom Marvolo Riddle; don't you, Albus?"
Himself shocked, Dumbledore was a few moments before he stuttered, "E-errr... You... know... his real name?"
"Yes, Albus," she snidely said. "And it may have saved many lives if we'd known that years ago. How long have you known his real name?"
With at first a mental beratement of himself for letting slip he knew Riddle's true name, he gave a sniff of condescension and replied, "That is not important. What is important, here, is that Voldemort will be―"
"We... the Wizengamot... will decide what is and is not important, Albus," she interrupted. "Again. For how long have you known Riddle's real name?" "And I say again it is not important," he firmly returned.
She smiled back, but it was not a pleasant one, and said, "Very well, Albus. This is not yet your trial, so I will not have Veritaserum forced on you... for now."
Ignoring the old man's look of slight horror, she turned to the rest of the Wizengamot and said, "I remind you all that Albus Dumbledore is considered, by our laws, as a half-blood. Therefore, he is not exempt from the forced use of Veritaserum when he refuses to answer questions put to him during trial. If he refuses to answer even one single question directly and fully during his upcoming trial... then, when the time comes, I will be demanding he be dosed with Veritaserum as per the law."
That elicited a few mutters and murmurs from the Members and quite a few more louder remarks from the gallery, both 'for' and 'against' Dumbledore being dosed. Down in the DMLE, work was still going apace with the still ongoing hunt for Death Eaters; with the added 'bonus' of the hunt now including those who were unMarked, but major financial backers of Riddle and his 'insurrectionist movement'.
A wizarding wireless was still on, but there were only those taking a well-earned break who were listening in on what was going on a few floors below them.
Saint Mungo's was another place where the wireless was on throughout the building but people were still working. Admittedly, there were now very few entering 'Casualty', the Emergency Treatment Centre, but there were still patients to attend. Most of those over the past couple of days were aurors who'd had to fight and capture Death Eaters who resisted arrest. However, just as with aurors within the DMLE, there were still those Healers and other staff who were on 'down' times and were listening in.
"Now, Albus," said Bones. "Let's try again, shall we? From just when were you aware that the one who called himself Voldemort was actually truly named Tom Marvolo Riddle?"
Dumbledore just sat there and glared back.
"No?" she asked. "I checked the records in Lady Marchbanks's office of the WEA before I came here this morning, Dumbledore. Tom Marvolo Riddle was a student of yours back in the late thirties and early to mid forties. He was even Head Boy back in 1945. As such, you knew exactly who he was.
"I'm also left wondering why Minerva McGonagall, who was two years behind him at Hogwarts; and Rubeus Hagrid, who was three years behind him; have also never mentioned that. Could they have, perchance, forgotten?"
"What are you attempting to imply with that line of questioning, Amelia?" he lowly demanded.
"It's a little, but very significant, fact that all other students who attended Hogwarts at the time seem to have forgotten, Albus," she returned. "I'm asking if you have an explanation for that?"
"I do not," he firmly replied.
"You do not?" she pressed. "As in you do not have a response you want to give me, right?"
When Dumbledore didn't respond to that question, she just smiled at him before she said, "That'll be yet another question I add to the list of those questions I'll be asking you once I can get Veritaserum into you." "Minister, that's enough," said one of Dumbledore's supporters off the Wizengamot. It was Doge. "You will cease this... muggle hunt... of Albus Dumbledore, immediately."
Barely glancing in Doge's direction, she said, "I am unsurprised you were the first to leap to Dumbledore's defence, Member Doge; though I must ask why. You must be at least somewhat cognizant of what this man has truly done; information you know would paint Dumbledore in a bad light if it ever came to light."
Doge huffed and snapped, "I do not appreciate your implication, Minister. Need I remind you, you hold office only at our forbearance?"
"And need I remind you that this session of the Wizengamot is currently being transmitted via the WWN to every wizarding wireless set throughout the country?" she sneered back. "And... need I remind you that this meeting is currently being attended by the International press, not just the Daily Prophet?
"Your actions... your words... here today are being judged by the entire populace, Member Doge. And, within the day, they will be judged on the International stage. I am well prepared and quite comfortable with my words being so judged; are you with yours?"
It took a moment for Doge to begin to reply. His expression showed he'd forgotten about both the international press and the WWN transmitter. "I―" he began.
"Enough," said Ogden, quite firmly. "Madam Bones, if you have evidence to present to this body regarding any illicit or illegal deeds by Albus Dumbledore, this is not the time to air them."
"Hear, hear," said a few others. "I believe we have waited enough for the arrival of Lord Peverell," he continued. "Just where is he?"
Standing just inside the main doors to the chamber under his invisibility cloak, since stripped of the beacon and mage sight charms Dumbledore had managed to affix to it through the weaving into the material of tiny matching black threads which had since been removed, Harry thought, 'I do believe that's my cue.'
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